Leptin, acylcarnitine metabolites and development of adiposity in the Rhea mother-child cohort in Crete, Greece.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate relations of serum leptin at age 4 with development of adiposity and linear growth during 3 years of follow-up among 75 Greek children and to identify serum metabolites associated with leptin at age 4 and to characterize their associations with adiposity gain and linear growth. METHODS: Linear regression models that accounted for maternal age, education and gestational weight gain and child's age and sex were used to examine associations of leptin and leptin-associated metabolites measured at age 4 with indicators of adiposity and linear growth at age 7. RESULTS: Each 1-unit increment in natural log-(ln)-transformed leptin corresponded with 0.33 (95% CI: 0.10, 0.55) units greater body mass index-for-age z-score gain during follow-up. Likewise, higher levels of the leptin-associated metabolites methylmalonyl-carnitine and glutaconyl-carnitine corresponded with 0.14 (95% CI: 0.01, 0.27) and 0.07 (95% CI: -0.01, 0.16) units higher body mass index-for-age z-score gain, respectively. These relationships did not differ by sex or baseline weight status and were independent of linear growth. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that leptin, methylmalonyl-carnitine and possibly glutaconyl-carnitine are associated with weight gain during early childhood. Future studies are warranted to confirm these findings in other populations

Intratumoral CRH modulates immuno-escape of ovarian cancer cells through FasL regulation

Although corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and Fas ligand (FasL) have been documented in ovarian carcinoma, a clear association with tumour progression and immuno-escape has not been established. FasL plays an important role in promoting tumour cells' ability to counterattack immune cells. Here, we examined immunohistochemically the expression of CRH, CRHR1, CRHR2 and FasL in 47 human ovarian cancer cases. The ovarian cancer cell lines OvCa3 and A2780 were further used to test the hypothesis that CRH might contribute to the immune privilege of ovarian tumours, by modulating FasL expression on the cancer cells. We found that CRH, CRHR1, CRHR2 and FasL were expressed in 68.1, 70.2, 63.8 and 63.8% of the cases respectively. Positivity for CRH or FasL expression was associated with higher tumour stage. Finally, CRH increased the expression of FasL in OvCa3 and A2780 cells through CRHR1 thereby potentiated their ability to induce apoptosis of activated peripheral blood lymphocytes. Corticotropin-releasing hormone produced by human ovarian cancer might favour survival and progression of the tumour by promoting its immune privilege. These findings support the hypothesis that CRHR1 antagonists could potentially be used against ovarian cancer

Global patient outcomes after elective surgery: prospective cohort study in 27 low-, middle- and high-income countries.

BACKGROUND: As global initiatives increase patient access to surgical treatments, there remains a need to understand the adverse effects of surgery and define appropriate levels of perioperative care. METHODS: We designed a prospective international 7-day cohort study of outcomes following elective adult inpatient surgery in 27 countries. The primary outcome was in-hospital complications. Secondary outcomes were death following a complication (failure to rescue) and death in hospital. Process measures were admission to critical care immediately after surgery or to treat a complication and duration of hospital stay. A single definition of critical care was used for all countries. RESULTS: A total of 474 hospitals in 19 high-, 7 middle- and 1 low-income country were included in the primary analysis. Data included 44 814 patients with a median hospital stay of 4 (range 2-7) days. A total of 7508 patients (16.8%) developed one or more postoperative complication and 207 died (0.5%). The overall mortality among patients who developed complications was 2.8%. Mortality following complications ranged from 2.4% for pulmonary embolism to 43.9% for cardiac arrest. A total of 4360 (9.7%) patients were admitted to a critical care unit as routine immediately after surgery, of whom 2198 (50.4%) developed a complication, with 105 (2.4%) deaths. A total of 1233 patients (16.4%) were admitted to a critical care unit to treat complications, with 119 (9.7%) deaths. Despite lower baseline risk, outcomes were similar in low- and middle-income compared with high-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: Poor patient outcomes are common after inpatient surgery. Global initiatives to increase access to surgical treatments should also address the need for safe perioperative care. STUDY REGISTRATION: ISRCTN5181700

Assessing maternal behaviors that support children's self-regulated learning

The aim of the present study was to adapt a measure of maternal scaffolding of children's learning and to examine its relationships with children's self-regulated learning (SRL) skills and cognitive performance in different cognitive domains, such as visual-spatial and language tasks. Thirty-five pairs of mothers-preschool children participated in joint problem solving. Maternal supportive behaviors were examined by means of a structured observation form tapping mothers' Cognitive and Metacognitive Support, Emotional- Motivational Support, and Autonomy Support. The children's actual SRL skills and cognitive performance in the two different cognitive domains were also assessed. The maternal scaffolding instrument's inter-rater reliability was confirmed. A developing and dynamic network of relations emerged between maternal scaffolding behaviors, children's SRL skills and cognitive performance; the cognitive domain of the tasks differentiated these relations. Maternal promotion of children's autonomy was positively associated with children's actual use of cognitive strategies, and with their planning and monitoring skills in both cognitive domains. The implications of the findings for promoting children's SRL in different cognitive domains are discussed

Questionnaires for teachers by Grigorenko, Sternberg, and Strauss: Psychometric properties of the hellenic version

The present study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the Hellenic version of the Questionnaires for Teachers A and B (Grigorenko, Sternberg, & Strauss, 2006). The first is tapping teacher beliefs about their efficacy in the formation of social relations in the work environment and the second teacher beliefs about their effectiveness as regards various abilities. The sample comprised 279 high school teachers, 196 women and 85 men. The participants were asked to respond to the two Questionnaires for Teachers as well as to the questionnaires: Self-Efficacy in the Delivery of Instruction and Teachers' Affective Commitment in Teaching. Confirmatory factor analyses verified the uni-dimensionality of the two Questionnaires for Teachers. Their reliability and convergent validity were satisfactory

Influence of moisture on humidity sensitive material parameters of polymers used in microelectronic applications

Most used polymers show a visco-elastic behaviour. The significant change of the material properties is a function of time and temperature, and needs to be taken into consideration. When exposed to humid environments, epoxy resins can absorb water up to a 10 weight -%, depending on the chemical nature and structure, stress state, exposure time, water concentration and temperature. The use of temperature and time dependent material parameters is state-of-the-art in microelectronic packaging. This paper presents various modified measurement methods for analysis of the effect of moisture of thermo-mechanical properties of MEMS-relevant polymer systems. In the Micro Materials Center's lab, an advanced measurement method was developed - which modified DMA multi frequency and hygroscopic swell analysis for the determination of moisture-dependent parameters for micro and nano scale samples. The time-moisture superposition principle has been introduced for some polymers where a humidity shift factor is used along the frequency axis at constant temperature. The relationship between the humidity shift factor and the equilibrium water content is analogically described by the WLF (Williams-Landel-Ferry)-type equation on the time-temperature-superposition. Due to moisture absorption, the glass transition temperature was reduced for fully saturated samples, and visco-elastic properties which are influenced by moisture prefer the state of entropy elasticity already to lower temperature significantly. Furthermore, diffusion in unfilled epoxies follows the conventional Fickian diffusion of polymers

Uveitis: an isolated complication of post-streptococcal syndrome

A child with anterior uveitis as the sole manifestation of group A streptococcal infection is described. There was a history of a ‘viral’ upper respiratory tract infection 2 weeks before the onset of uveitis. A post-streptococcal phenomenon was diagnosed on the basis of serial ASO titre (ASOT) monitoring. There are few reports of patients with post-streptococcal uveitis. ASOT monitoring should be included in the work-up of uveitis of undetermined aetiology

A six months’ prospective study of the relations between children's self-regulated learning skills and maternal supportive behaviors

The aim of the present study was to investigate the relations between different aspects of maternal support of learning and children's self-regulated learning (SRL) skills and task performance over time. Thirty-five mothers and their kindergarten children were examined twice during joint problem-solving, in a six months period. Children's SRL skills and maternal support during engaging in visual-spatial and language tasks were recorded via observation. Maternal cognitive support, emotional and motivational support, autonomy support, and maternal contingency were examined. Results showed that early maternal autonomy support and maternal contingency were significantly associated with children's developing SRL skills and task performance in the visual-spatial tasks six months later. Children's early cognitive-metacognitive skills mediated the above relations. The theoretical, methodological and practical contribution of the study is discussed. © 2022 Elsevier Inc

Study on the effect of moisture and elevated temperature on the fracture properties of visco elastic polymers

The universal applicability of polymer materials in microelectronics is based on the wide adaptability of their thermo-mechanical as well as fracture characteristics. These materials have strong time and temperature dependent mechanical properties and are sensitive to moisture. In this paper the effects of temperature and moisture on the thermo-mechanical and fracture properties of thermosetting polymers are studied. Moisture induces a reduction in glass transition temperature, changes the elastic stiffness slightly and degrades the fracture toughness of polymer determination. For the Analysis of fracture toughness, miniaturized CT specimens are initially pre-cracked. Strain fields around the crack-tip at the moment of crack-onset are later determined by gray scale correlation technique and mapped to finite-element analysis for the determination of energy release rate, considering the effect of moisture, temperature and visco elasticity. This work provides a unique meth od for the analysis of moisture-induced cracking in encapsulated devices

Bilateral Recurrent Uveitis in a Young Patient with Family History of Spondyloarthritis: Spondyloarthritis or Not?

We present the case of a young man with a strong family history of SpA, who was referred to the Rheumatology Clinic due to bilateral uveitis refractory to treatment with corticosteroids. The patient’s renal function gradually deteriorated and a subsequent biopsy was positive for interstitial nephritis. After excluding all other systemic diseases, the diagnosis of TINU syndrome was confirmed. Although rare, TINU syndrome should be considered in the differential diagnosis of non-infective uveitis especially in the presence of urinalysis abnormalities. © 202